Large deformation analysis of spudcan penetration into sand overlying normally consolidated clay

Abstract

Inverted conical spudcan footings are the most popular foundation for jack-up platforms in the offshore industry. Before a jack-up can be located at a site, the penetration resistance during spudcan installation must be accurately predicted. This is usually performed using bearing capacity formulae from industry standards, with the use of site-specific numerical modelling not yet common place. In this paper, the Mohr-Coulomb sand model and Tresca clay model are incorporated with a large-deformation approach called the Coupled- Eulerian Lagrangian (CEL) method within the commercial package ABAQUS. It is used to simulate the installation process of spudcans in sand overlying clay. The robustne..